Pride

Chapter Twenty-Six

DeMarcus Cousins

"Ooh baby, I like it raw..."

-Shimmy Ya; ODB

I hadn't had a fight in the longest and almost thought I'd make it through the school year without one. I was also shocked that the one person I pretty much vowed not to fight, I ended up fighting. To be fair though, I couldn't blame him for retaliating because I was on one in that moment. I saw Lichelle place a hand on his shoulder and smile at him and in that moment became furious. There was no rhyme nor reason. I hadn't even put the whole picture together past the fact that he was in Lichelle's space. All I seen was that much but knew logically I couldn't do much past the little I had done.

They'd thrown us into detention because nobody was available to pick us up. Both of our parents refused to stop their day to figure out what possessed us to fight first thing in the morning.

I looked over at Trevante and had to give it to him. He hadn't been a slacker. I knew had security not broken us up I would've had him pinned for real but overall, dude wasn't an easy target. It was also a little shaming knowing that I'd started the fight over a fit of jealousy.

With that much in mind, along with the fact that I was trying to mature overall I look over at him. He looked back with a raised brow. I chuckled, seeing his readiness and waved him off.

"Chill. I was just about to say my bad for that shit back there. It was stupid as fuck and we shouldn't even be in here."

He shrugged, "We're here now. I should've let that shit go. You weren't even the nigga I wanted to fight if I'm honest."

I chuckled, "So who was it? You did swing like you were tryin' to take a nigga out."

He laughed without mirth and answered, "Wendell."

I sucked my teeth, my mood threatening to plummet at the sound of his name. I knew I had a long way to go as far as him but overall, I still held onto my dislike of him like an arch nemesis I loved to hate. So far it worked for me. Shakyra wasn't truly our issue anymore but overall, I still hadn't liked him since he moved to New York. The only reason my mood didn't totally plummet was seeing someone dislike him as much as I did.

However, Trevante had a real reason. My insecurities with Kofi weren't although if you asked me, he didn't make matters better.

"It still doesn't explain why you bumped me like I ever had an issue with you, though. I don't fuck with you at all, but I don't go out of my way to show it."

I laughed at his candidness, "It had nothing to do with you."

It'd been silent for all of five minutes before he turned back to look at me. I looked back at him before he rose a brow.

"I thought you hated Lichelle. What the fuck, nigga?"

"Mind your business, nigga."

"I'm sitting in detention over you being emotional, Carl Thomas." Trevante snapped, "I have every right to ask you!"

I sucked my teeth, "I'm still not getting into that shit. You still could've walked away when I bumped your ass."

"Still, but fuck that. You would've kept on every time you seen me talkin' to sis and really and truly, that's my sis. A sis that dropped some heavy wisdom before you came with your overgrown He-Man lookin' ass and made a bad day worse."

I smirked but didn't reply. I went quiet but smirked deeper when I heard him sucking his teeth.

"To put the record out there, Lichelle and I only bump into each other like twice a month but she's one of the few people I speak to in here. My eyes are on someone else, hence why I wanted to fight Wendell. Son really tried to press me like I'm some lil' nigga."